The proposed amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions has raised many questions about what unintended consequences it might bring. The vague language of the second paragraph might affect the legal rights of unmarried couplesâgay or straightâconcerning wills, advance medical directives or domestic violence, according to critics. And at least the concern over domestic violence
Many political experts will tell you debates don’t matter (“It’s all about the ads, baby”). But incumbent George Allen has seen a double-digit lead in the U.S. Senate race melt away in the months following his “macaca” remarks. And it was obvious Allen’s advisors weren’t taking any chances with the final debate between the Republican […]
Does the area want more big-box retail? Such was the gist of a contentious public hearing at the Albemarle County Planning Commission at their October 10 meeting, where commissioners considered, but deferred, rezoning 87 acres of county land to accommodate almost 400,000 square feet of commercial development on the southern side of Charlottesville. Representing developers […]
After some debate, the City Planning Commission decided in a 3-2 vote to recommend approval for a nine-storey “mixed-use” building that will include 100 luxury condos at 201 Avon St., just south of the Downtown Mall near the Pavilion.
On September 10, a UVA undergrad sat on the porch of his rented apartment on Wertland Street, chatting on his cellphone at 4am, when two men robbed him at gunpoint and shot him in the stomach. The crime remains unsolved, but several UVA-area landlords donated $1,000 each to increase the Crimestoppers reward for information leading […]
At least Rich Collins is not a trespasser: Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Peatross has found Rich Collins not guilty of trespassing when, in May of last year, he handed out flyers for his General Assembly campaign outside of Whole Foods
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Common ground was a scarce commodity during an October 5 debate concerning the proposed amendment to the State constitution banning gay marriage and civil unions. House Delegate Bob Marshall, one of the amendment’s co-sponsors, took on Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom To Marry. The two stopped just short of direct name-calling (but just barely) while disputing each other’s position in a Lincoln-Douglas style debate at the UVA Law School.
The contentious issue of rural preservation is at the root of a new proposal for tradable development rights (TDR) from Albemarle County Supervisor David Slutzky. It’s garnering reserved approval from interested parties across the spectrum.
The question of how to prevent bucolic countryside from being converted to cul-de-sacs and strip malls (a.k.a. How Not To Become Northern Virginia) has been critical lately. Three years ago, the Board of Supervisors decided that Albemarle’s answer would be to designate 5 percent of the county as growth areas.
The “ultimate bed and breakfast,” as Virginia’s former director of corrections Ron Angelo called the prison system, isn’t a pleasant stay. Such was the theme of an independently produced documentary Up the Ridge, which examines the “supermax” Wallens Ridge State Prison, located in the southwestern tip of Virginia. Several dozen locals turned out October 4 […]
Virginians across the state are talking about whether to vote “yes” or “no” on November 7 concerning the proposed amendment to the State constitution that would ban gay marriage and civil unions. But a fact often glossed over in such discussions: The amendment provisions are already explicitly written into State law.